Requiem
by Regin Ash
Summary: Finally free from the danger that plagued him, A'luet is able to breathe until a distress signal comes from a crashed scout ship on the Ooman planet. Choosing to follow his mentor when the veteran predator answers the cry for help; it is not long before he finds himself in a dangerous game with an abomination bent on turning Earth into a new breeding ground for xenomorphs. (AU)
1. Chapter 1

Silence deafened the air as he slowly came to. Blinking slowly and choking on the heavy dust and chemical particles he realized his biomask was damaged, most likely beyond repair. Forcing himself to turn over, he winced at the sharp pain that zipped up his spine like it was a super highway. He blindly felt for his mask and pulled the tiny hoses loose to get the thing off him, cool air left in the wake of the monstrous thunderstorm that rolled through felt good on his burning skin. What led to him being in such a stunned state? He tried to remember but the pain tightening its sharp claws around his spine stopped him from getting too far in answering his own question. He rolled onto his side so he could spit out the phlegm gathering in his mouth. Rustling, uncoordinated, grabbed his attention to his far right. Then all at once it came back to him, everything leading up to him immobile on the ground. _The U'darahje…._ He had followed his mentor to the ooman planet to deal with the xenomorph outbreak. He and his teacher hadn't known how bad it was until they landed and found out they were dealing with more than a few escaped Kainde Amedha, a predalien was running loose too. _The pauk de blast didn't kill the fucking thing?_ Then he paused. _Well it didn't kill me either apparently._ He didn't know where his teacher was; from the ferocity of the explosion he hoped-prayed he wasn't alone on an unfamiliar planet. He had only been to the ooman planet Earth once before and the trip hadn't ended with him being almost incinerated. The rustling continued, as it drew closer he finally spied his combi-stick laying shy of a nok away from his head. It would be up to him to finish off the U'darahje if the thing shared his luck and survived the blast. He waited for the right moment and then grabbed his spear, extending it quickly just as the dark shadow fell over him. The being grabbed the end of it before the sharp blade could puncture its throat.

"Seems your luck of escaping deadly situations has continued."

"P'sy?"

His mentor snorted. "You can save your tears."

A'luet ignored the sarcasm. "How did you-? That whole wall came down on top of you…"

The aged yautja offered his hand to which A'luet took, albeit not without pain as he was pulled to a standing position. "U'darahje. Those things are like steel, very handy when a wall falls on you and the pauk de, fucker, is on top of you. They're fireproof too apparently." He studied his charge. "You going to make it?"

"I was going to ask you the same question." A'luet bent for his discarded mask, satisfied it wasn't as horribly damaged as he previously thought, and reconnected it. "That looks bad."

P'sy glanced down at the wound where the predalien had speared him with its tail. "I'll live." He looked behind them to survey what had been the town of Gunnison, Colorado. "Well…. quite a bit messier than I would have liked but the infestation is contained. Shall we? I want to be in Prime before the Ancients find out what a shit storm this was and beat me there."

A'luet laughed once and regretted it. "Wonder if Osh'da and J'mper are still on their hunt. I want a day to recuperate before he's up my ass."

"One way to find out." P'sy turned in the direction of the traveling vessel he and A'luet used to arrive at Earth, but stopped short when voices were heard. "C'jit." He hissed. "I can't camouflage. My gauntlet was fucking destroyed."

Acting quickly, A'luet punched the sequence into his own gauntlet and then grabbed his mentor by the shoulder, the two of them disappearing into thin air. As much as they both dared, they moved back a few feet and then crouched as a group of uniformed oomans arrived in the massive clearing left by the nuke bomb. They seemed to be arguing.

"I don't know what they are saying." A'luet whispered.

"And you think I do?" P'sy scarcely breathed as he watched the humans. "Their guttural tones always sounded to me like the ill working septic system of that clan vessel you and I were on last year."

A'luet snorted before he could stop himself. Shifting P'sy grabbed his arm and put a code into the gauntlet. Within seconds the words of the oomans was flooding A'luet's biomask. _Blast. Casualties. Washington. Ship._ The last word A'luet understood. "They found our ship."

"Of course they fucking did." P'sy growled. "God damn rats don't know when to leave shit alone." The Elder fell silent for a moment. "If one of us is going to make it back to Prime, it is going to be you."

It took a second for his mentor's words to register. "Excuse me?"

P'sy barely looked at him. "I can hear every other word coming from your mask. They got reinforcements coming in to tow the ship. Both of us or one of us needs to get to that ship before they do. I'll be crucified if that ship falls into these barbaric shitbags' hands." P'sy moved to look at him. "I don't have a working gauntlet. It makes more sense for me to lead them away, giving you time-"

"No, it fucking does not make more sense." A'luet hissed. "I'm not leaving you behind. Are you fucking L'ulij-bpe, crazy?"

"It's the only way A'luet." P'sy tried to rise but A'luet kept a firm grip on his arm.

"The trees."

"What?" P'sy hissed.

"The trees. Not like you don't know how to climb. We'll run across them, use the branches."

"The trees here are like twigs compared to what you are used to A'luet. They are pathetic compared to the ones I know you saw the last time you were here."

"So be fast." A'luet wouldn't take no for an answer. "Don't dawdle. Isn't that what you like to tell Chiva prospects?"

P'sy growled unintelligibly. "That's because they don't know the meaning of the word hustle."

A'luet stood. "Well every second we stand here with you giving lame ass excuses, those barbaric shitbags are one step closer to our ship."

"Alright. Fine." P'sy grumbled. "You're lucky I like you. Otherwise you'd be missing teeth right now. Let's go."

Without another word the two took off toward the trees sparking an alarm in the group of oomans as they heard running feet but saw nothing. One trigger happy idiot let loose a volley of bullets, none hitting the two predators thankfully. The moment the two reached the trees A'luet let go of P'sy and jumped up, grabbing the first branch he could, his mentor right next to him; his age not a hindrance.

Jumping to the second tree A'luet saw immediately what P'sy meant about pathetic trees. He didn't weigh that much, but what weight he did have threatened to snap the branch in half. P'sy noticed.

"Like I said. Move!"

Below them the oomans tried to keep up, their gun flashlights waving frantically in the air as they ran, trying to see what was moving at an incomprehensible speed through the trees.

 _Please let us get to the ship. Please._ A'luet had heard of stories about other yautja being caught by these oomans and the stories weren't always pretty. He didn't want the same fate to befall him or P'sy.

"Wait." P'sy slowed to a stop. "I think we lost them."

A'luet was stopped from answering by the interruption of a wide load trundling down the logging road directly below them.

"Damn." P'sy growled.

"That's not going to carry the ship. It's too small."

"No shit." P'sy looked around. "Well. Make yourself comfortable… I'll figure something out when I'm less irritated."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." P'sy murmured. "No way we can get to it now before they do. It'll just cause a lot of unneeded violence."

Grudgingly agreeing, A'luet made sure he wouldn't pitch out of the tree before sitting between two close branches, hoping he wouldn't be stiff come morning.

…

 **One week previous**

 **Yautja Prime**

Soft breaths in his ear pulled him from unconsciousness, looking to his right he saw his mate K'iera had returned from a hunt during the night. She stretched in her sleep and turned away from him, the light brown spots catching his eye, dotting her spine until they disappeared under the covers. He wanted to reach out and follow them with his finger but resisted. The touch always tickled her and she'd probably wind up kicking him in warning. Instead of tickling her, he figured pulling her closer to him would be safer. She stirred. "Hi."

He took a slow breath, filling his nasal cavity with her scent. "Hey."

She groaned. "Is the suns up?"

"Mm-hm."

She growled lowly. "Nothing worse than having to get up before you are ready."

"Then don't."

She snorted. "Funny." She pulled away from him and sat up. "Except your dear aunt is expecting me and I do believe P'sy is expecting you."

It was his turn to groan. "He can wait. It won't kill him."

K'iera shot him a smile. "He might kill you."

"Pffft. He'd miss me."

She rolled her eyes and left the bed, her expression teasing. "I'd get moving if I were you."

…

The Elder's home was empty, almost eerie in A'luet's opinion as he wandered room to room. In the two years since his first mentor, Kainde, died during the Hish invasion he had grown just as close to P'sy; feeling like he had known the older predator forever. A fellow Elder once remarked Kainde knew what he was doing when he asked his longtime friend to watch over his student should anything ever happen to him. Returning to the main room A'luet was just resigning himself to the fact P'sy wasn't home when rapid swearing erupted from the rear of the house. Amused, he followed the words, finding the Elder on the tail end of his colorful language regarding an abnormally large skull as he removed the head from the grotesque body.

"Pauk de S'yuit-de, fucking son of a bitch-" P'sy looked up and saw him. "You're late!" He barked, returning his attention to his dead prize.

"K'iera came home." His words were answered with a grunt. "What is that?" He came closer, still unable to put a name to the creature.

"A shoddy kill by an unblooded I've been graciously tasked with." P'sy clicked and growled. "Fuck it. Too shitty beyond repair."

After the mention of it, A'luet saw the skull for what it was. It wasn't deformed from birth, its head seemed to have popped. _Looks like an ill aimed caster shot._ He fought a smile. "I don't know, it looks like a lucky shot to me. The unblood could have been killed."

"Too bad he wasn't after that shitty killing technique." P'sy stomped back into his home. A'luet followed in his wake and watched as the Elder sat heavily into a chair.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm stewing." P'sy glanced at him. "Well I suppose I did ask you to come by today. We can go see that dolt G'jidi, and hopefully he's smart enough to repair my caster right this time and then I figured we'd go to a game preserve by the end of the week. I need to release my frustrations in a positive way."

"By killing things?"

P'sy didn't bother to answer him. "Alright then." He rose from his chair only to pause when a call beeped on a monitor mounted to the wall. "What the fuck do they want with me now?" He grumbled. Silence reigned while the Elder read the notes being laid out on the monitor. "Well." The Elder glanced at the young predator. "I guess that preserve is taking a back burner." A'luet knew such information passed between Elders was none of his business but he took a risk, asking what the memo was about. "A distress call coming from the ooman planet was picked up. It's my turn to check it out."

Disappointment washed over the young blood. P'sy just got back from a trip in which the Ancients asked him to take and now he was taking another. "Duty calls I suppose."

P'sy's back was to him while he decided which weapons to take. "That's what happens when you're too good at your job. Maybe I should start sucking-I'll get a desk position like Dahl'K."

A'luet laughed before catching himself. It was common knowledge P'sy did not get along with the tribunal elder leader. "Can I come with you?"

"These types of duties don't allow-" P'sy paused. "You're not old enough and you haven't yet gathered the experience to come along." He glanced at A'luet, his face partially shadowed. "Not my rules kid."

"How do they expect me to _gather the experience_ if I'm not given a chance to do so?"

"A good argument that is always ignored when asked. I don't know." P'sy pulled his whip off its hook.

"And if I ignore the rule?"

The elder picked up his biomask and passed the young predator, shrugging. "I doubt you'll be punished. The tribunal likes you too much."

….

Heavy silence when it involved his father always ratcheted his anxiety; he sat waiting as An'nu regarded him… silent. Next to his father sat the predator's longtime friend and hunt partner, J'mper; a yautja who had seen better days. In the last year, the predator underwent a grueling surgery and recovery to repair his lower jaw, lost due to a botched attempt by a facehugger to impregnate him. For what seemed like the millionth time, A'luet took a split second to admire the skill. While the bottom mandible was made from an alloy metal, the skin was real, almost matching the predator's coal colored skin perfectly. _He looks normal now._

"So… you want my permission to answer a distress call that is spotty on specifics on the flea-bitten ooman planet?"

"It's the only way I can go with him, yes."

"A'luet. There's a reason why only the Elites go on those trips."

The young blood shrugged. "Call it a learning experience." His reply didn't amuse his father as the predator rolled his eyes.

'You're okay with this?' An'nu asked J'mper in sign. Even though the yautja's jaw was repaired, due to so many years signing, the predator still communicated occasionally with his hands.

'It is your call.' J'mper looked away to see his mate Issa, An'nu's sister, enter the bungalow. She paused at seeing the three males sitting.

"Did I miss something?"

"No. A'luet just wants to follow P'sy on a distress call coming out the ooman planet."

She stepped forward until she was behind her nephew. Looking down at him she asked. "And what's wrong with that?"

An'nu shot his sister a sour look. "It is not a trip for a young blood to be on."

"Oh, for god sakes An'nu, A'luet is almost twenty seasons and he's not made of glass."

"Should I repay the favor to you in eighteen years when Samira wants to do the exact same thing and you're saying no?"

Issa glowered at him. "That's different."

"Is it?" An'nu snapped. He sighed, his eyes landing on his son again. "Issa has a point, even though I hate to admit it. You are almost twenty…. Just promise me you'll stay by his side."

A'luet sat up straighter, scarcely believing his luck. "I promise."

An'nu nodded once. "J'mper and I are leaving too. Hopefully we'll come back roughly the same time." He looked back at his son. "Be safe on this, you hear me?"

"Yes Osh'da."

Later, as he packed his belongings and his gaze landed on his mother's combi-stick it really hit him, he was leaving Prime and going to the ooman planet. _N'-ithya_. _No, the oomans call it Earth._ The last time he went to the planet he and his father landed in a dense jungle no different than the one he grew up in, only more humid. The distress call was coming from a populated area on a different part of the planet if he recalled correctly from the digital map P'sy was studying earlier in the day. Though battling a small amount of irritation due to K'iera just returning from her hunt and now he was leaving, he still felt an insane urge to get off the red dusty planet. It was going on five months since he left Prime. And he was ready to leave again.

….

 **Next day**

"Is this thing safe?"

A'luet doubted by the looks of the ship it would make it out of the Prime atmosphere. P'sy shut a storage compartment and turned to answer him but was interrupted by none other than the tribunal leader, Dahl-K.

"Looks are not always important T'Jierk." The predator drawled.

Seeing the Elder leader put A'luet in an instant bad mood, and his mentor too by the looks of the expression he was fixing on the yautja.

"You here with a point Dahl'K?"

"Actually I am." The predator slapped a disc into P'sy's hand. "In case you also need to have a rescue squad come after you. Hit that center button."

"Oh, you'd like that." P'sy yanked his hand away and boarded the vessel. "A'luet let's go before I do something I may or may not regret."

A'luet started to obey, opting to ignore Dahl'K who was staring him down as he followed his mentor, but the arrival of K'iera brought him up short. He set his equipment down as she came forward.

"Be safe, okay?" She pulled him close.

"I'm always safe." He earned clicking in disbelief. Then he was serious. "I'll be back before you know it."

A smile lit her face. "I'll wait for you. No hunts until then and maybe when you return, we can go-just the two of us."

"Yeah." As much as he wanted to take his time with her, he knew any longer would ignite P'sy's impatience. "I have to go."

She held onto his hand until he gently pulled out of her reach and boarded the travelling vessel. Pushing his bag out of the way he sat next to the scarred predator as controls were flipped on and off and the twin engines began to hum.

"Think we'd be lucky enough to incinerate his ass? Maybe I should wave him forward, so he thinks I need something, when in reality he's right in front of the engines."

"That'd be murder unfortunately." A'luet's wishful tones made P'sy's face crack with a smile.

"Only if you're caught."


	2. Chapter 2

" _The oomans are a young race in comparison to us, much more egotistical." An'nu gathered supplies needed for the day trip. Next to him, J'mper snorted in amusement at the description of the tiny, breakable creatures. An'nu only spared him a slight glance before continuing. "Truth is, we ruled this planet long ago; the humans then revered us like Gods."_

 _"Why don't we still?" A'luet took the foods offered to him._

 _"There were a lot less of them." J'mper answered, pushing his combi-stick into a sheath on his back. "Feeble-minded, easily bending to the power of suggestion. Now, there's 7.1 billion last I heard. Dahl'K was bitching about it because he'd rather not lose the planet as a reserve."_

 _"They're smarter too, as stupid as they are." An'nu grinned. "We didn't have to run around in camouflage so much back then. There were no governments powerful enough to chase us, no secret labs for us to be trapped in and experimented on."_

 _"They can do that? Oomans?"_

 _"Now, they can, yes. If given the chance." An'nu studied him for a moment in the dim light of the rising sun. "I want to show you something." The walk wasn't long as A'luet followed the two older predators through the dense jungle. All around them the scene was coming alive. Spider monkeys hooted above their heads, shuffling from tree to tree. Birds called jovially, not at all bothered by the sight of three powerfully built aliens as they crossed their midst. Gradually A'luet noticed a change in the smell of the air, he had left his mask off mostly because neither his father or J'mper bothered with theirs. An'nu slowed in his steps and motioned to climb the largest tree in the clearing. Below them, the healthy green was everywhere; above the canopies of the trees, and not too far from where they stood, a barren waste land scarred the Earth. A'luet found he couldn't look away as he watched the smoke of brush fires climb into the sky, while yellow metal machines trundled across the cleared land, pushing downed trees away. "What the oomans lack among the universe, they make up with their destructive ways." An'nu's words were quiet. "Had we'd stayed, this would not have happened. Their high metal buildings with their rivers of concrete and tar wouldn't choke out everything around them. Their wars wouldn't happen, over-population wouldn't happen, extinct-_

 _"It's only a matter of time before they learn the art of travelling through space, and realize they are nothing but ants compared to what's really out there."_

…..

A faint _beep_ cut through A'luet's sleep, waking him; stretching he groaned at his cramping muscles. _Slept too long in one position._ He sat up jerkily and then got to his feet unsteady.

"Rise and shine." P'sy barely glanced up from the holographic monitor outlining Earth.

A'luet grunted a response and sat in the co-pilot seat. "We there yet?"

P'sy grinned. "You in a hurry to get back to the flea-bitten planet?"

"I'm in a hurry to get out of this shuttle." The shuttle hurdled past an enormous red planet, rapidly approaching a line of suspended rocks.

"The Asteroid Belt." P'sy sat up straighter. "We're about 600,000 miles in human terms from Earth. We'll be there within two hours."

A'luet processed the information as he studied the older predator. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Doesn't matter." He barely heard P'sy over the hum of the controls.

"Yeah, it does. I'll take over. Go." At first it didn't appear P'sy was going to listen but then he shifted.

"Let me know when you see the Earth's moon. We'll only have a few minutes before we need to land."

"I've landed aircrafts P'sy." The older predator half turned to survey his student. "Gunnison Colorado, I know." Al'uet repeated the name of the town as he watched P'sy for any sign of argument; surprisingly he rolled his eyes and went to the abandoned cot, sighing loudly.

Within two hours a pock marked moon appeared and beyond it, the green and blue planet Earth. For reasons still uncertain, A'luet felt a strange pull of emotions like the first time he ever saw the planet. Beeping from the computer broke his gazing of the planet, looking down he saw the hologram lit up again, a replica of the planet zoomed in on a land mass which quickly zoomed further into a specified location. "Sucks every time I come here." P'sy appeared, sitting in his seat. "This particular solar system is one of the rockier ones. Can't tell you how many times I've tried to dodge their stupid comets and asteroids."

"Funny I didn't hit any."

P'sy looked up from tapping commands into his gauntlet. "You're a fucking liar. I heard that one hit the rear of the ship and if there was any doubt about that, your cussing cleared it up."

"You're supposed to be sleeping."

P'sy ignored him, though there was a small level of amusement on his face straightened in his chair. "Get ready, we're about to enter the atmosphere." The shuttle began gathering speed as it entered the exosphere. As they descended the ship shook harder the closer it got to the troposphere; then all at once the clouds broke and the descent slowed as the trees reached for them and then the shuttle sank below the thick leaves. "Your stuff ready? We aren't going to be coming back here for a while."

A'luet left P'sy to shut the plane down while he put various supplies into his pack, then he hit the controls for opening the doors to the outside. The air was cooler than he was used to, a light breeze swept around the side of the ship; he spared a moment to silently thank Issa for being so persistent when she told him to wear the thermos-netting. It didn't stop the coldness, but it kept a layer of warmth on his limbs.

"Ready?"

He turned to see P'sy close the ship doors and then activate the camouflage, shielding it from any possible prying eyes. "Yeah." He followed the older yautja as he headed north.

"The distress call came from a north-east location." P'sy explained as they climbed an embankment, pausing as they neared the top. "Right here." The two stopped when they saw the damage done to the trees, their branches snapped like they were kindling and more importantly, the massive ship that lay partially buried in the dirt from the impact of hitting the earth so hard.

"Do you think there's any survivors?" A'luet studied the crash site, knowing it was hard press for there to be any survivors. If there were any predators still alive, they'd be sporting some pretty serious injuries.

P'sy shook his head slightly. "I'm not reading any signs of life." He shot A'luet a sideways glance before heading towards the ship. "Put your mask on." He did as he was told as P'sy didn't waste time heading down the embankment, using the trees for help in not tumbling down the steep slope. He found P'sy hunched down next to a body of a yaujta, dead from two nasty punctures to the torso and a distress beacon next to him, clicking his disappointment. Curiosity got the better of the young predator as he carefully entered the ship. The damaged electrical system sparked around him as he drew further in; the closer to the command chamber, the more signs of death there was. Some bodies were whole, others in pieces. A'luet tried not to step on any of the dead, eventually it was too difficult and he stopped just inside the control room doors. One body caught his attention more than the others. He laid on a stretcher, no older than himself and blooded by the looks of the scar on his forehead. A'luet's gaze landed on the disemboweled torso. "He was the carrier."

"A fucking waste." He hadn't heard P'sy enter the ship as the older predator passed him to get a closer look. "Just blooded too, but unfortunately, this is our life." He growled lowly. "If he's in this state and the ship crashed, then the U'darahje is gone, probably on its way to the town…" He studied their surroundings, a large hole carved out a large chunk of the hallway's wall. "Someone missed their target, this is most likely the reason why they crashed."

A'luet ran his hand near the massive hole, a green phosphorus sheen "Someone was sucked out?" He asked faintly.

P'sy paused next to him. "Most likely, they were in space when this happened. Do yourself a favor, never have a ship compromised like that when you're in orbit. It's a shit way to go." A'luet couldn't help the revolted look he gave his mentor at the sheer thought, though P'sy missed it as he left the ship; carefully he followed him out.

"I'll keep that in mind." He found the older predator pulling a large vial out of his pack. He remembered the blue substance and also the seemingly copious amounts P'sy had access to back on Yautja Prime. Wordlessly, P'sy reentered the ship, destroying all and any evidence of the ship or its occupants having ever been there It didn't take long for the bodies and the ship to disappear. No sooner had the last of the metal disappeared, P'sy stiffened. "What's wrong?"

P'sy didn't answer his question. "Come with me." A'luet didn't have long to wonder what P'sy sensed. They came upon a sight that rose a disgust inside him.

 _There was nothing in the clearing that he could see; yet he still extended the spear, readying himself._

 _He felt his courage waver when it charged out from the brush, its metallic teeth gnashing and its claws hooked. Emboldened, he jabbed at it with the spear, missing. The hybrid backhanded him with its large claw, sending him clear across the clearing and into a tree._

 _Darkness threatening to take him over, he started to panic when the hybrid jumped at him. Letting out a frustrated cry, A'luet decided to take his chances and throw the spear at the creature. He hit it in the head, not fatally but enough to piss it off. It hit him again, this time in the chest, hard enough to feel his ribs crack. He was thrown backwards, landing on his back. It sprung forward, pushing him down, straddling him._

 _It opened its mouth impossibly wide, strings of saliva hitting A'luet in the face; its inner mouth coming out to kill him, impregnate him, he didn't know which._

 _As he opened his mouth to scream out, something shot the hybrid clean through its skull, its blood spraying him._

"A'luet." He was jolted out of his reverie, slightly dazed. It had been some time since he had a flashback to that terrible moment in his childhood. P'sy pulled him so that he faced him. "What's-are you okay. You checked out or something."

A'luet felt his face burn at the observation. "I'm fine." He took a step away, his gaze returning to the two humans, one adult and one child, both had a six-legged scorpion like creature attached to their faces, their grotesque legs twitching as the bodies laid with their chest cavities ravaged like the chest of the predator in the ship. Next to him, his mentor's caster rose up, pointing it at the father and son. "What are you doing?"

"Getting rid of the bodies and killing the pieces of shit after the fact." A'luet watched dispassionately as P'sy without hesitation, shot the facehuggers, obliterating them and the humans' heads; the veteran predator pulled out the small container of blue corrosive liquid to melt the bodies away as a thing of the past. Just as the last of the child's leg disappeared into nothing, the unmistakable sound of heavy boots snapping twigs and bushes, rapidly closing the distance between the predators and whoever was coming at them.

"Cloak, now." P'sy hissed, A'luet barely had time to punch the command into his gauntlet before a uniformed human appeared, a weapon drawn. P'sy's caster rose up, the red dots appearing on the man's chest. Reacting only, A'luet grabbed the predator's shoulder.

"What are you doing? He hasn't shot at us yet."

P'sy stood stiff for a moment before lowering the plasma caster. "Back up, and be quiet about it." The human was clearly uncertain about his surroundings, his movements jumpy as his gun shook in his hands; then he stopped in his tracks. The corrosive liquid melted away the bodies, it did not melt away the copious amounts of blood scattered around the area.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed.

"Shit." P'sy growled. "I'm knocking him out." Before A'luet could protest, P'sy's castor came up again and a different burst of energy shot out, hitting the human square in the stomach, throwing him back a few feet.

Once he was sure the human was down, A'luet stumbled towards him. "Did you kill him?"

"No." P'sy didn't lose any time tying rope around the man's legs and then firing the grappling hook up and over a large branch, the effect was instant as the human was thrown up into the air, dangling, upside down. "Let's go."

…

 **Gunnison, Colorado**

"You'd think after all this time, oomans would have a better system for their waste water."

"You'd think the oomans would have a lot better system for everything by now." P'sy growled, his voice bouncing off the sewer walls. A'luet had been about to add to the conversation, but the Elder shushed him. Skittering from talons and screeching echoed far off, but was rapidly coming closer. P'sy handed a small rectangular box to A'luet. "Put this on that side of the wall, hurry." A'luet did as he was asked, while P'sy did the same on the opposite side of the sewer.

"What is this?"

"Something I love using on these freaks of nature. Get ready." P'sy pushed him backwards, away from the entrance to their tunnel as A'luet pulled his combi stick loose, extending it. The first Kainde Amedha came around the corner, its tail whipping, its sisters eagerly following in her wake. Once they passed the threshold of the tunnel P'sy hit a button on his gauntlet, in response the rectangle blocks lit up, forming deadly lasers that crisscrossed each other. The Elder's caster shot out at two xenomorphs in succession, throwing them both back into the lasers, slicing and dicing them to nothing, others merely leaped over the blood spatter. One leapt off the ceiling and slamming into P'sy knocking him backwards into the deep water.

"P'sy!" There wasn't enough time for A'luet to even think about helping as a xenomorph came at him too; spinning, he slammed the alien into the concrete wall. Teeth gnashed as it growled and snapped its frustration at being subdued; when it couldn't achieve biting him, its inner mouth shot out, teeth intent on whatever it could reach first. He quickly aimed his caster and a burst of white light annihilated its head. His victory was short lived as another xenomorph tackled him, he rolled with the collusion into a somersault, turning upright, his combistick piercing down into the back of the Kainde Amedha's skull.

While during his struggle with his own two enemies P'sy had resurfaced, holding two xenomorphs at bay barely, their sharp metallic-like teeth snapping at his face. Red dots appeared quickly and the plasma shots popped their heads like grapes. Once his hands were free, the older predator pulled a small egg out of his pack, throwing it in the direction of the four remaining Kainde Amedha. "Move!" He barked, yanking A'luet back, behind a lip in the sewer wall. The resulting blast caused a decent tidal wave of sewage water to slosh them. P'sy grumbled as he got to his feet. "I'm getting too old for this."

A'luet stood and despite their current situation, gave a short laugh. "Are you?" Thrashing caught their attention at the sudden appearance of the predalien, who roared her frustrations. _Where the hell did it come from?_ A solid punch threw P'sy away from A'luet, slamming the older predator into the cement wall, debris falling on top of him. A'luet didn't have enough time to yell his mentor's name before the predalien charged him; he aimed his caster and fired, grazing the freak's face as she unexpectedly dodged the shot and slapped him away like he was nothing. Hitting the wall hard, he coughed, unable to take breath after the hit.

A strong hand pulled him up. "You alright."

"Yeah." A'luet gasped. He forced himself to straighten in time to hear a screech of rage.

"Pauk! It's going for the manhole cover!"

"Manhole?" A'luet's answer to his half-question came when the predalien slapped the cover up and away, spilling lights from the street into their cavern; his super hearing heard the metal screech across the road above their heads and several dull thuds as things crashed into each other. _Cars. Trucks. Vehicles._ He remembered the ooman words.

"Damn it." P'sy took off after it. A'luet followed him without question, the two pulled themselves up through the manhole and onto the street where several vehicles sat steaming after colliding with each other. He didn't need to be told to camouflage, the two of them disappearing in the midst of humans who missed the sight of two aliens, too busy exclaiming about the impossibly large _thing_ and then deformed looking dogs that just streaked across the road and looked like they had a coat of metal on them.

…..

"What is this place?" The structures were foreign to A'luet, a constant low _bzzzzzzt_ was just loud enough to irritate his sensitive hearing. _Like an elusive fly... no- what are those things called? Mosquito…those things suck, figuratively and literally._

"Electrical factory." P'sy's attention didn't deviate as he watched for hostile signs. "I'm going to get up on the scaffolding." He paused, studying A'luet to the point of self-consciousness.

"What?"

P'sy looked away. "Your osh'da made me swear to not let you out of my sight, but I think since you've taken your first breath of life you've proven yourself tenfold. I'm going to go up top, you stay down here. Don't do anything stupid." The predator left him, scaling a ladder and disappearing somewhere above him. _Stupid?_ Keeping his eyes on everything around him, A'luet followed the sidewalk around the transformers. He didn't know how much time went by while he walked and thought of K'iera back on Prime. They needed to do a hunt soon together, just them. It had been a while. _Almost 6 months._

An enraged shriek knocked him out of his thoughts as a surprised yell echoed above him, followed by metal clanging. He ignored the order to stay put and quickly scaled the scaffolding. He reached the third catwalk in time to see P'sy plummet past him and slam hard into a large metal duct unit. "C'jit!"

He turned his ultraviolet filter on and searched the scaffolding for their quarry, nothing registered until he spotted her running away from him. Hollow bursts of caster shots pounded the walls, sending a heavy rain of sparks showering all around. While searching for the U'darahje, he missed P'sy pull to his feet painfully below and take aim with his own caster. A hefty boom shook the structure as a massive explosion lit up everything around them; as a result, the factory fell into pitch black. Turning, from his vantage point A'luet watched as a cover of darkness spread across the town of Gunnison like a heavy blanket. _The U'darahje_. He searched for the predalien in vain.

"Damn it." P'sy climbed up to stand next to him. "Don't bother. It's gone."

"You see which way she went?" A'luet refocused on the blacked-out town.

"No." P'sy growled. "Bitch is too smart for its own good." He touched his side, his hand coming away with phosphorus green blood.

"You okay?"

P'sy grumbled lowly. "I'll walk it off." He turned and headed down to the ground, A'luet following him.

"What did you hit? What exploded?"

"Transformer- my caster's aim is off from falling." P'sy paused once they reached the ground. "When was the last time you tracked?"

"A while ago-" A'luet answered, uncertain. "Why?"

"Better brush up on your skills." P'sy grunted. "My mask is higher quality than yours, so you're going to have a bitch of a time seeing things unless you use the heat-sensory." He stretched, groaning a little. "The U'darahje went that way."

A'luet turned. "Back into town?"

"It's got to make more little fuckers like itself somehow. What better than use a town?"

"What are the odds of us killing this thing?"

P'sy glanced at him, not expecting such a question. "With you and me? High. Let's go. I don't want this bitch getting too far away."

…..

P'sy motioned A'luet to come behind a building. "I want to regroup." He picked up a cement block and hit a padlock on a back door once, shattering its mechanism. The building was dark, heavy duty shelving units lined the walls, stocked with boxes of various sizes. "Examples of the oomans' pathetic stash of so-called weapons." P'sy waved a hand absently.

"What are they called?"

"Guns. Think of our casters, only hand-held, shooting out little balls that are nothing more than an annoyance like a fly bite."

"They can't do damage to us?"

"They can, but they'd need the right type of gun to do damage." P'sy paused, slowing his movements. A'luet didn't need to ask why as he heard the collection of voices; they seemed to be arguing. P'sy growled lowly to himself. "Let's find a building _not_ occupied weak little rats." They turned to leave when a female screamed in terror, while there was crashing of shelves and glass. "I am so tired of having to anonymously yank these little fuckers out of bad situations." P'sy snapped.

"Means you have a conscience."

P'sy clicked, annoyed. A second scream, followed by yells motivated him into action, leaving the storage room.

A'luet had to at least admire the effort in bravery as some human males shot at the invading xenomorphs, though the bullets did little except ricochet off the aliens' armored bodies. Not caring if the humans saw him, he aimed and fired, his caster hitting an alien dead center in the chest. He didn't know where P'sy went and so focused on the area around him.

Words bounced into his mask's database, echoing, as the translator kicked in. _What the fuck?_ A young human caught sight of him and on autopilot raised his weapon up, missing the xenomorph behind him. Hating how close everything was to each other, A'luet extended his combi stick, hoping he'd have enough room to move around. A horrified scream quickly cut off as the alien managed to grab the human around the head and crunch down on his skull, shooting small splatters of blood and brain matter out of the alien's mouth. A'luet growled and waited as the xenomorph noticed him and lurched forward, its claws hooked and its inner mouth poised open. He sidestepped and then slammed the blade of his combi-stick into the back of the alien's head, where he knew its central nervous system started. The paralysis was instant and he finished it off with a caster shot. _I have to find P'sy._ He hurried down an aisle, hearing a mega battle going on and he doubted it was humans against the aliens; the creatures sounded too big. As he got closer and turned down another aisle, a young girl and man skidded to a stop, followed by a slightly older man. The girl squeaked and tried to go back the way they came except another alien appeared, closing off any chance of escape. The three humans skittered back and forth, trapped between the alien and predator; finally, as if _she_ decided _he_ was the less dangerous one, she yanked her male friend forward, closer to A'luet. She stopped a fair distance away; words again bounced into his mask's mic. _Help us, help us… hhhheeeelllllpppp uuuusssss._

He ignored her plea and focused on the xenomorph as it decided to charge. The three humans squealed in fright as it got closer; A'luet extended his combi stick once more and spun, slamming it into a leg and heard an audible snap as it broke. The alien screamed in rage but was still agile enough to turn mid run and pounce on him. He hit the floor hard on his back, his spear sliding out of his hand. The inner mouth jabbed out at him as he ducked to miss it. The second time it came at him, he grabbed it and pulled. The xenomorph screeched and with one foot, smashed him across the face; making him feel like he hit a solid wall. His mask's mechanics fizzed and jumped as it tried to compensate for the heavy impact it just experienced. A clang startled him and the xenomorph as a mallet hit it on the top of its dome. Growling, it turned around to see the girl with a hammer in her hand, ready to throw it too. The distraction was enough for A'luet to stretch for his spear and swing its deadly blade at the alien's neck; with a _snniick_ the head fell off and landed on the ground by his face. Quickly, he shoved the body off before the blood dripping out of the neck burned him.

Groaning to himself as he felt a bruise blossoming across his back, he stood and noticed the three humans still gawking at him. _We need to get out of here!_ _There's this other fucked up creature in here. I don't know what it is!_ A woman skidded to a stop by the older man before noticing him. _Oh my god!_ She without hesitation raised her gun up, aiming for A'luet's chest. Instincts only, his caster raised up without hesitation. If it came down to her or him, it'd have to be her.

 _NO!_ The young girl grabbed at the gun. _He just saved us… saved us, saved us._ After a tense moment, the woman lowered the gun slightly.

 _What is it?_

 _I don't know._ The older man finally spoke for the first time. The atmosphere tensed again, the four humans jumping and taking a partial step back as A'luet heard P'sy come up next to him.

"No different than the last bunch who saw me." P'sy said, his masked face tilted towards the humans as they watched them. "Wide-eyed and nothing more than prey animals. No wonder why the bad bloods use them occasionally for game preserves."

"They do?" The idea revolted A'luet. Hunting xenomorphs at a game preserve was one thing, hunting a human in the same fashion just seemed cruel. Looking back at the four frozen before him it really struck him how outmatched they were by two species of otherworldly creatures they just had the pleasure of meeting. A handheld gun appearing in P'sy's hand, pointed towards the small group caught A'luet's attention. "What are you doing?"

"No survivors."

"What? We're here to kill the xenomorphs, not oomans."

P'sy's head turned his way. "If we let anyone live, they're going to create enough hysteria that we'll become hunted with the xenomorphs and it'll compromise our mission. It's part of the job kid."

"The female saved me… or helped anyway –chucked that mallet at the bitch's head." He kicked the dead xenomorph to make his point. "Distracted it enough that I could decapitate it." He glanced at the group, still standing still watching them, whispers occasionally threading through them. He spared a moment to see if his mask would pick up anything.

 _Think they're communicating? Talking? The clicks and those other sounds-must be a language?_ The young girl was by far the keenest on the situation unfolding.

"Are you prepared to babysit them if they don't leave us alone?" P'sy asked.

"If they die, they die… but not by us." For a long moment P'sy didn't move but then the caster slid back into neutral mode. "Can you communicate with them?"

"I don't want to." The older predator growled. "Their stupid tones give me a headache. It's not just me who can, you can too. The mask will translate." Growling out a sigh, P'sy stepped towards the humans, prompting them to back up and the woman's grip on her gun to tighten.

 _They come any closer, saving you or not, I'll shoot them._

"I have faster reflex than you." The woman nearly dropped her weapon as the translated words registered.

 _They can-you can understand me?_

"I'm not going to get into playing stupid questions with you. Go home, if you have a basement I suggest you hide there until this is done." P'sy turned to leave.

 _Wait! What's going on? Why are you here and what the hell are those?_

"More stupid questions?" A'luet prompted his irritated mentor.

Shutting his translator off for a moment, P'sy grumbled. "Oomans have got to be the nosiest, pains in the fucking asses." He faced the group again. "It doesn't concern you."

Anger rose on the woman's face in an instant, her weapon coming up again and she irrationally closed the distance between them. _Not my concern!? My husband was just killed by one of those things! And you're saying it's not my concern? Answer me or I'll drop you where you stand!_

P'sy snarled at her and in one swift motion knocked the gun out of her hands and grabbed her by the throat. Shocked, she couldn't do much else except grasp his forearm weakly and hope he wouldn't kill her. After a moment, he drew her towards him to make his meaning clear. "You don't know how lucky you are to be female. We have an honor system forbidding the murder of your sex…" He paused. "Had you been male, you wouldn't have known what hit you." He wanted to drop her like she was insignificant but he held his anger in check, barely, and simply set her down on her feet. "Let's go." He said to A'luet.

 _Wait!_ A'luet didn't expect P'sy to stop but he did, though still faced away from her. There was muttering behind them as she was asked what she was doing. _They saved us. They know what they are doing. We should go with them._ Less sure of herself, the older woman asked if she was crazy, though her tone was defeated. _They know what they are doing._ The teenage girl insisted. She approached them cautiously, sticking closer to A'luet than P'sy. _Can we go with you, please? I-I know it looks like I'm asking for self-preservation and I-I guess I am, but I promise we'll stay out of your way if you let us come with you. She has military experience._ She gestured to the woman. _And he knows his way around weapons-guns…._ The older man. An irritated grumble came from P'sy as he looked away, focusing on the heavy rain outside the shattered windows. _So, they can be of value to you._

"So, she's saying those two are of value and yet her, the boy toy and then obviously the ooman spawn are useless." P'sy shook his head. "Unbelievable." Until P'sy pointed her out, A'luet never noticed the ooman child standing by the teen boy.

A'luet sighed. "We give them a chance and if they don't live up to your expectations, we ditch them."

" _My_ expectations?" P'sy faced him. "Really A'luet? Really?"

We ditch them." A'luet repeated more forcefully. "I'll help you, we'll knock them out or something and leave them hanging from a tree like you did that ooman in the woods."

P'sy considered him, his silence growing more thoughtful by the second. "Fine…but get in my way and we're done."


End file.
